Why Employee Potential Trumps Employee Performance

As the summer drew to a close
in the United States and football camps opened for practice, chatter around
quarterback Tim Tebow’s continued unemployment made its annual reappearance
among his incredulous fans.

His college coach, Urban
Meyer, described Mr. Tebow’s situation as baffling. It flew in the face of
Tebow’s numerous college accomplishments, in particular his being the second
most efficient quarterback in college football history. It's enough to make one
question the wisdom of National Football League personnel experts who seem blind
to Tebow’s professional potential.

Nevertheless, Jeff Schultz,
a sports columnist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, rightly pointed out
that passing efficiency is an unreliable indicator of future NFL success. Only
four of the top twenty five most efficient college quarterbacks have or had
successful NFL careers. Two of the most arguably successful NFL quarterbacks,
Peyton Manning and Joe Montana, only rank 71 and outside of the top 250 on the
all-time college quarterback efficiency list, respectively.

NFL personnel experts know
this too, and discount college quarterback efficiency data when evaluating
college players for their professional potential.

Why using employee performance data to predict future success fails

So, what's a sports story
doing in a talent management blog?

It's intended to illustrate
the error of using on-the-job performance data to predict future job
performance in a different job. Specifically,
it's intended to draw parallels with the way organizations use individual
contributor performance data to staff management positions.

Simply put, different jobs
require different skill sets.

Relying on current job
performance data to determine whether a strong individual contributor will
become a good manager is likely to result in poor promotional decisions. That's because the two positions have little
relationship with each other. Instead you need to rely on employee potential.

Why you shouldn’t rely on current job performance to make promotional decisions

This difference is much more
fundamental than the difference between playing quarterback in U.S. college football
versus the NFL.

So, why does this practice
persist?

Perhaps like the person who
searches for their lost keys under the streetlight, even though they didn't
lose them there, organizations insist on doing this because “that is where the
light is brighter.”

So how should you evaluate employee
potential for managerial roles?

1. Get a broader view of employee potential with 360 degree feedback

One potential source of data
to evaluate skills transferable to management positions is 360 degree feedback, especially from peers and junior members.

This data will provide
insight into the candidate’s reputation with and effect on other team members. It
may also give some perspective on the candidate’s traits and how these will
translate in the manager role. Nevertheless, this requires extrapolation and
faith.

2. Provide potential managerial talent a trial-run

Another (more radical but
more effective) approach is to promote the leading candidate to a management
role on a probationary or trial basis. This allows the candidate to try the
position out, and decide with your organization (i.e. HR, the hiring manager,
etc.), whether it's a good fit.

Should the candidate or your
organization realize that a management position is not for him/her, (s)he
shouldn’t be deemed a failure.

As discussed previously,
managing people is a different job
function. Managers have to be willing to attend to the performance and motivation of others, as well as worrying about their own. They also have
to coax the most out of difficult employees and cope with petty feuding among
subordinates.

There's no way to know in
advance how (s)he would respond to any of this.

3. Support employee learning and development for successful promotions

Because it's hard to prepare to assume a management role, it's important for your organization to provide lots
of support and room for error. The important thing to evaluate is whether the
candidate shows increasing personal awareness in the role and is improving his/her
interpersonal skills.

Moreover, even if it ends in
the candidate passing on the management position at this time, (s)he should be
considered for future management positions if interested.

Learning and growing are
lifelong pursuits. So we should support and encourage career progression and
trying new things.

Your turn:
What other tips/advice can you add to support more effective evaluation of employee
potential for managerial roles?

Frontline Managers: Are They Given the Leadership Tools to Succeed?

Frontline Managers: Are They Given the Leadership Tools to Succeed?

By Dwight Ueda, Guest Contributor

Dwight Ueda has spent his career helping organizations strengthen organizational performance by making them more accountable to their stakeholders' interests through their compensation, performance management, and talent management practices. As a Principal of his firm, Operating Principals, LLC, Dwight urges organizations to consider simpler and more nimble approaches to managing their workforces.